The kind of love stories I hear from people, mostly women, are stories of how they fell in love with someone they least expected. Someone not their type. A friend they never considered romantically. Someone even completely opposite of what they had been looking for. I’ll call him the peripheral man: the man a woman doesn’t focus on.

Call me idealistic, unrealistic, or hopelessly waiting for a man who doesn’t exist, but I believe that there’s a reason why I’m looking for a certain kind of person. That reason is because deep down, I truly believe that person exists and he exists to be with me. I believe that the flip side is true as well, that he’s looking for me too and that I exist to be with him. Crazy huh?

In a world of unexpected love connections, is it wrong for me to hold out for what I expect? Is it wrong to have focused tunnel vision and avoid dating the peripheral men in my life?

Seriously, does anyone ever end up with who they expect?